Data storage is a critical component for computing. In a computing device, there is a storage area in the system to store data for access by the operating system and applications. In a distributed environment, additional data storage may be a separate device that the computing device has access to for regular operations. In an enterprise environment, the stored data in the storage area of the computing device or additional data storage often access one or more offsite storage devices as a part of a global disaster recover strategy to protect the entire organization by having one or more copies of data at offsite locations.
Data protection is the process of safeguarding important information or critical data from corruption and/or loss, including data backup and recovery (e.g., disaster recovery). Storage technologies that can be used to protect data include tape backup, which copies designated information to a tape cartridge device so it can be safely stored and mirroring, which creates an exact replica of a website or files so they are available from more than one place. Storage snapshots can automatically generate a set of pointers to information stored on tape or disk, allowing for faster data recovery, while continuous data protection backs up all the data in an enterprise whenever a change is made.
Current approaches to data protection rely on a data protection application be in control of all data protection actions. Using this approach, data protection is limited to the throughput and availability of a single controlling data protection application. Determination of data protection is also limited to the success or failure of data protection operations as they occur, as opposed to an expectation of what the protection of data should look like over time.
Such data protection rely upon data protection applications to be configured in precise detail relative to actions and not their outcomes. Success and failure is measured in the present—did an action, like a backup, work or not. Using the status of an action performed in the past cannot guarantee that a particular level of data protection is in place beyond the time the action was performed. And the behavior of an action cannot precisely determine the objective attempting to be met.